Comics XIII

[drawkcabi]

18 hours ago, red snow said:

Metal or heavy (whatever the Snyder event is currently being published) hasn't interested me at all. From what I can gather it just seems to be an excuse to have lots of different Batmen running around. There's nothing other than that to draw me in. Does anyone have a better spin on it?

I've felt pretty apathetic towards the metal stories until the origin story of The Batman Who Laughs, that one drew me in, and TBWL is the first comic book character to scare me in ages. I think that it is going to go down as a classic in the vein of DKR and TKJ. So I'd say check that one issue out and then make a decision if you are interested in wanting to look into the previous ones.

Where the story goes from there though could be good, but I have a feeling it will be just usual comics event stuff with a "darker" spin that will turn out to really just get sillier and sillier.

[red snow]

20 hours ago, drawkcabi said:

I've felt pretty apathetic towards the metal stories until the origin story of The Batman Who Laughs, that one drew me in, and TBWL is the first comic book character to scare me in ages. I think that it is going to go down as a classic in the vein of DKR and TKJ. So I'd say check that one issue out and then make a decision if you are interested in wanting to look into the previous ones.

Where the story goes from there though could be good, but I have a feeling it will be just usual comics event stuff with a "darker" spin that will turn out to really just get sillier and sillier.

Are they just a bunch of stand-alones or are they all connected? One of the best things about "flashpoint" was being able to pick and choose which stories were of interest without feeling I was missing out by skipping others.

[drawkcabi]

56 minutes ago, red snow said:

Are they just a bunch of stand-alones or are they all connected? One of the best things about "flashpoint" was being able to pick and choose which stories were of interest without feeling I was missing out by skipping others.

Yes.

They are all connected but also there's a bunch of stand-alones and asfaik it's taking place in the current main DC continuity in the Dark Days/Dark Nights storylines. I am maybe more than a casual comics fan but I'm far less than a dedicated reader so I'm not sure exactly what's going on with the backstory, I'll try to help more than confuse but it will be difficult because much of it I'm confused on myself.

As I understand it, since the new 52 reboot there was thought to be 52 universes, but now it's discovered that there are more. So you have Earth 1, 2, 3....52 but then it's shown there is Earth -1, -2, -3...-52 and sitting right in the middle you have Earth 0. The negative Earths are the dark multiverse and they want to invade the positives side, to do that they have to go through Earth 0 which becomes the battleground Earth. That's the main storyline.

The one-shots are tie-ins to the main Dark Nights: Metal main storyline. They tell the origin stories of different evil Batmen introduced in the main. I'd say none of them are less than mediocre, some pretty good, but the only one that's really good is the origin of The Batman Who Laughs. I'd also say that's an important book if you are reading the main storyline, while still satisfying as a self contained story if you don't want to get bogged down with the rest.

So you can take all the one shot origins for just that if you're not up for reading the main Dark Nights story and pick and choose of those which may interest you, you get self contained stories within the plot of the main overall story so you don't have to invest in the main one unless you want to.

[red snow]

6 hours ago, drawkcabi said:

Yes.

They are all connected but also there's a bunch of stand-alones and asfaik it's taking place in the current main DC continuity in the Dark Days/Dark Nights storylines. I am maybe more than a casual comics fan but I'm far less than a dedicated reader so I'm not sure exactly what's going on with the backstory, I'll try to help more than confuse but it will be difficult because much of it I'm confused on myself.

As I understand it, since the new 52 reboot there was thought to be 52 universes, but now it's discovered that there are more. So you have Earth 1, 2, 3....52 but then it's shown there is Earth -1, -2, -3...-52 and sitting right in the middle you have Earth 0. The negative Earths are the dark multiverse and they want to invade the positives side, to do that they have to go through Earth 0 which becomes the battleground Earth. That's the main storyline.

The one-shots are tie-ins to the main Dark Nights: Metal main storyline. They tell the origin stories of different evil Batmen introduced in the main. I'd say none of them are less than mediocre, some pretty good, but the only one that's really good is the origin of The Batman Who Laughs. I'd also say that's an important book if you are reading the main storyline, while still satisfying as a self contained story if you don't want to get bogged down with the rest.

So you can take all the one shot origins for just that if you're not up for reading the main Dark Nights story and pick and choose of those which may interest you, you get self contained stories within the plot of the main overall story so you don't have to invest in the main one unless you want to.

That's a good summary, thanks.The main concept sounds like a solid DC event set up - also a good excuse for using earth prime as the focus. I'll have to dip into it. I'm massively behind on my comic reading in terms of DC material

[Nictarion]

Anyone planning on reading Doomsday Clock? I picked up the first issue but haven’t had a chance to read it yet. 

[Teng Ai Hui]

I will read the first couple of issues, but after the Batman Metal event, I don't have high expectations.  Is Doomsday Clock just a 12-issue series or will there be a lot of tie-ins like with Metal?

[red snow]

On 24/11/2017 at 3:53 PM, Nictarion said:

Anyone planning on reading Doomsday Clock? I picked up the first issue but haven’t had a chance to read it yet. 

 

On 25/11/2017 at 5:56 AM, Teng Ai Hui said:

I will read the first couple of issues, but after the Batman Metal event, I don't have high expectations.  Is Doomsday Clock just a 12-issue series or will there be a lot of tie-ins like with Metal?

I'm intrigued by it as I think Johns has quite a meta plan going on here allowing for him to have his cake and eat it in terms of using the characters in what is still a cash grab but that action in itself could be part of the plot. I didn't touch "Before Watchmen" at all but the approach here is more interesting and less insulting for me. That and Gary Frank is a great artist and perhaps the best choice outside of Gibbons for Watchmen.

But I'm also waiting to be sure it's just a 12 issue series and not suddenly turning into a dozen spin-offs mid-way. I am resigned to the fact this is going to be a prelude to something else (unless it bombs) but as long as it concludes a chapter in the everlasting DC story I'll be fine. The trick is knowing whether that's the case before it's completed.

 

[KingintheNorth4]

I just finished reading the first issue of Doomsday Clock, and I have to say, Geoff Johns and Gary Frank capture the look, tone, and voices of the original Watchman comics perfectly. They really stay true to the source material. The nine panel grid format was brought back also, which is a nice touch. So far, it's a worthy sequel to Watchman.

[red snow]

Great start to CB Cebulski AKA Akira Yoshida's reign as EIC at Marvel. It's pretty bad in terms of professionalism that he did this - although maybe his "exile" to china was part of his punishment at the time. Given the types of gig Akira Yoshida got he certainly seemed to get Japanese style projects possibly due to his name fitting. But I'm not sure how much this was a case of Marvel only wanting a writer of Japanese heritage to work on a given comic and how much it was editors making false assumptions solely off a name? I mean, if they asked for proof of his hertitage then I guess CB Cebulski was even more dishonest.

Clearly a lot of this is Bleeding Cool trying to score clicks off the story in the sense they sat on it until he became EiC but it's still something worth being out in the open. I think I'd lose my job if I was using a false name to get paid for extra work at my place of employment though.

 

 

[mormont]

It was certainly ill-advised for him to do this in the first place, particularly to pick an identity of an ethnicity other than his own and to lie about it: but it's absolutely stupid to promote a guy who did this to editor-in-chief, and it appears Marvel/Disney did know about this before taking that decision. Why would you do that? 

[john]

The whole story seems like bullshit - Marvel staff met a random Japanese guy and assumed he was this reclusive comic writer because of his impressive Godzilla memorabilia collection?  It seems like they just want to try and stick all the blame on one guy.  But then they promoted him so clearly they have no shame anyway.

[red snow]

11 hours ago, mormont said:

It was certainly ill-advised for him to do this in the first place, particularly to pick an identity of an ethnicity other than his own and to lie about it: but it's absolutely stupid to promote a guy who did this to editor-in-chief, and it appears Marvel/Disney did know about this before taking that decision. Why would you do that? 

It's a head-scratcher how you'd promote someone who'd deceived you in the past. I guess they feel he's redeemed himself over the years. Oddly he has done a good job of hiring international talent (assuming they actually aren't all white men from America using aliases). That and they are desperately trying to turn their comics around but I agree that it's highlighting the lack of choices they have. I'm actually wondering if Bendis left knowing CB Cebulski was getting to be EIC.

I think what sticks for me is that it was only after Rich Johnston busted him that he owned up for it. He should have owned up to this a long time ago and it maybe wouldn't be such an issue now.

Finally got my hands on volume 3 of Clean Room. I think it's the comic equivalent of "twin peaks" yet still utterly unique. If this comic doesn't return it will be a serious crime. Failing that Gail Simone needs to continue pushing herself and not be afraid to "let loose" if this is the kind of work she's capable of.

The most recent volume of Walking Dead was a bit of a wheelspinner. I felt the whisperes were something genuinely different yet they've spent several issues retreading zombie hordes and saviours.

[mormont]

10 hours ago, red snow said:

It's a head-scratcher how you'd promote someone who'd deceived you in the past. I guess they feel he's redeemed himself over the years. Oddly he has done a good job of hiring international talent (assuming they actually aren't all white men from America using aliases). That and they are desperately trying to turn their comics around but I agree that it's highlighting the lack of choices they have. I'm actually wondering if Bendis left knowing CB Cebulski was getting to be EIC.

There's no mystery to why Bendis left, he had plenty of good reasons without this cropping up at all.

[red snow]

13 hours ago, mormont said:

There's no mystery to why Bendis left, he had plenty of good reasons without this cropping up at all.

Very true. For the likes of him and Slott I imagine getting to write DC characters is enough of a draw after a while. A bit like how Morrison couldn't resist X-men way back. I think Bendis has written every major character/franchise at Marvel so creatively it makes sense.

I do get the impression Bendis is a champion of diversity and while he's still the white guy writing diverse characters I think he'd balk at the idea of pretending to be half-hispanic or black when writing Miles Morales or Luke Cage.

[john]

Seems like there was plenty of good reasons to stay too.  The Marvel Disney enterprise is probably bigger than the DC WB and he'll be more limited at DC.  And it's not exactly the benchmark for creativity.  It's weird to think that these days the big characters would still be a draw for creators.  But I suppose Bendis is one of the few who has the chance to write on anything he wants to.

[mormont]

Bendis has been there and done that at Marvel. Plus the rumour is that DC are offering him more money and a chance for input on the movies. Add that to the chance to write Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Green Lantern, Justice League, a whole new box of toys, and it's hard to see why Bendis would stay with Marvel.

[Red Tiger]

X-men back to marvel.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

On 11/24/2017 at 10:53 AM, Nictarion said:

Anyone planning on reading Doomsday Clock? I picked up the first issue but haven’t had a chance to read it yet. 

The whole concept of “Doomsday Clock” seems poor.  “Watchmen” needs no prequel, sequel, or recot to be complete.

The whole idea of Superman attempting to fight Dr. Manhattan is terrible.  The fight should be trying to get Dr. Manhattan to notice Superman in the first place.

 

 

[red snow]

On 02/12/2017 at 9:57 PM, john said:

Seems like there was plenty of good reasons to stay too.  The Marvel Disney enterprise is probably bigger than the DC WB and he'll be more limited at DC.  And it's not exactly the benchmark for creativity.  It's weird to think that these days the big characters would still be a draw for creators.  But I suppose Bendis is one of the few who has the chance to write on anything he wants to.

Most comic writers are fans of comics (which is both good and problematic) so I think you'll always find them being drawn to the big two's A-list characters.

Plus Bendis had been sidelined from the Movie side of things when Feige wrestled sole control of the cinematic universe. So he probably knows his future isn't as bright as having the entireity of Marvel Disney to play with. Although I think he was still involved in TV and cartoons.

There was a news story that Bendis nearly died last week from a MRSA infection that left him temporarily blinded. He seems to be recovering now but I can imagine that knocks a person back for a while.

On 03/12/2017 at 10:23 AM, mormont said:

Bendis has been there and done that at Marvel. Plus the rumour is that DC are offering him more money and a chance for input on the movies. Add that to the chance to write Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Green Lantern, Justice League, a whole new box of toys, and it's hard to see why Bendis would stay with Marvel.

Yeah - time to move on to greener pastures.

On 11/12/2017 at 3:44 PM, Red Tiger said:

X-men back to marvel.

I'm hoping this means an end to the self imposed exile of the franchise in the comics. If the deal goes through then I'm hoping they'll take the books seriously again and get some big hitters on the books. Although they'll need to bring some big hitters back to Marvel to do that - something they are lacking in these days.

[Red Tiger]

19 hours ago, red snow said:

I'm hoping this means an end to the self imposed exile of the franchise in the comics. If the deal goes through then I'm hoping they'll take the books seriously again and get some big hitters on the books. Although they'll need to bring some big hitters back to Marvel to do that - something they are lacking in these days.

Yeeeeeeep, hence why im excited. No more of this pushing the Inhumans to be the new X-men kind of shit.